WMATA taps Kawasaki for more 7000 series cars

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has placed a $184 million order with Kawasaki Heavy Industries for 100 additional series 7000 metro cars, meant to augment and eventually replace Breda series 4000 vehicles supplied in the 1990s.

The order follows an initial $886 million contract signed in 2010 for 428 series 7000 cars. Around 300 of these vehicles will replace the oldest series 1000 trains, while the remainder will provide the additional fleet capacity required for the opening of the Silver Line to Washington Dulles International Airport and Ashburn, Va.

Last week the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) awarded the first of three-design-build contracts for the second phase of the Silver Line. Capital Rail Constructors, a joint venture of Clark Construction Group and Kiewit Infrastructure South with Parsons acting lead designer.

Kawasaki's stainless steel vehicles will be assembled at the Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing facility in Lincoln, Neb., and will be delivered by 2018. With the completion of the order, more than half of the WMATA fleet will be made up of Kawasaki vehicles.